


Who'd Have 'Em?

by lionheartedghost



Series: Evan Buckley Week 2020 [1]
Category: 9-1-1 (TV)
Genre: Evan Buckley Week 2020, Fluff, Gen, Kinda, Mostly chaos if I'm being honest, it's up to you, maybe pre-relationship buddie?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-24
Updated: 2020-03-24
Packaged: 2021-02-28 22:14:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,184
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23294602
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lionheartedghost/pseuds/lionheartedghost
Summary: “Hey, Buckaroo!” Hen’s voice was already a little more slurred around the edges than he was used to. The time on his phone screen read 9:48pm. “Where are you? We took a vote and now we’re all drinking and you’ve got to stay sober. You snooze you lose. Get here soon!”Buck is the last one to the bar, so the team vote him the designated driver by default. By the time he shows up it’s chaos. Luckily, he loves them so it doesn’t matter.Written for Evan Buckley Week, Day 1: “That’s My Family” + Fluff.
Relationships: Evan "Buck" Buckley & Eddie Diaz (9-1-1 TV), Evan "Buck" Buckley & Henrietta "Hen" Wilson, Evan "Buck" Buckley/Eddie Diaz, Henrietta "Hen" Wilson/Karen Wilson
Series: Evan Buckley Week 2020 [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1675246
Comments: 11
Kudos: 235





	Who'd Have 'Em?

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Evan Buckley week 2020, Day 1. 
> 
> Prompt: "That's my family" + fluff. This didn't end up being super fluffy and is kind of more chaotic than anything, but I hope you enjoy it anyway!
> 
> Also posted on Tumblr.

Buck wasn’t sure how he ended up as the designated driver.  
  
Actually, no. He knew _exactly_ how he’d ended up as the designated driver. They’d managed to line up their days off, they’d found babysitters, they’d even gone as far as reserving a table in the bar, and really, who did that? But that had been the plan since they’d arranged it, Chim and Maddie and Hen and Karen and Eddie and him. The same bar as always. 8:30pm.  
  
Except Buck had got caught up running errands after his shift all afternoon, of all things, and _God_ didn’t that make him feel old? He’d been stuck in a line for what felt like forever at the bank, sat in traffic for another ten years, at _least_ , and to top it all off he’d had to search three different grocery stores just to tick everything off his hastily-scrawled list.  
  
The call had come as he’d been unpacking the last of the bags in his kitchen.  
  
“Hey, Buckaroo!” Hen’s voice was already a little more slurred around the edges than he was used to. The time on his phone screen read 9:48pm. “Where are you? We took a vote and now we’re all drinking and _you’ve_ got to stay sober. You snooze you lose. Get here soon!”  
  
There was a minute or two of tinny laughter and clinking glasses, followed by an “oh, shit!” as Hen realised she hadn’t ended the call.  
  
Buck had unpacked the last of his groceries, picked up his wallet from the counter, and warily made his way back out to his truck.  
  
He made it to the bar at 10:12pm exactly. He remembered the time, because he’d taken a moment for himself to enjoy the relative calm, the time blinking at him almost hypnotically on his dash. His phone had buzzed from where he’d dropped it on the passenger seat, Hen’s name popping up on the lock screen with nothing but a string of seemingly random emojis beneath it in lieu of asking where he was.  
  
Buck took a breath to prepare himself. Then, with all the gravitas of Neil Armstrong preparing to step out onto the surface of the moon, and with all the trepidation of someone preparing to tightrope walk their way across Niagara Falls, Buck climbed out of the truck and made his way into the bar.  
  
It was chaos.  
  
He spotted Maddie and Chimney almost immediately. It wasn’t difficult: they almost always ended up at the karaoke booth, and by the looks of the other patrons, their borderline theatrical rendition of ‘Need You Now’ wasn’t their first performance of the night.  
  
Hen and Karen were lounged against each other in the booth they’d booked, alternating between trying to sit up and regain some composure, and catching each other’s eye and dissolving into snorts and cackles. Beside them, Eddie sat with his chin resting on the table, studying the room through the brown-tinted glass of the empty beer bottles stacked in front of him.  
  
The bartender spotted him looking at them and quirked an eyebrow. “You know them?”  
  
“Yeah,” Buck said with a tired smile. “They’re… That’s my family.”  
  
“Huh,” the bartender considered them. “Lively family you’ve got there, man.”  
  
“You’re not wrong.”  
  
“Buck!” Hen sat up straight, throwing out an arm in his direction. “Get over here!”  
  
Eddie lifted his head off the table so suddenly that the beer bottles rattled, one teetering precariously on the edge. Buck caught it before it could fall.  
  
“Hey,” Eddie grinned, somehow stretching the word out to cover three syllables more than it had. “Nice save.”  
  
“I’ve always got your back.” Buck took the empty seat next to him, his eyes wandering to the glasses in front of them. “So, uh… looks like you guys were having a good time without me.”  
  
“Chimney’s idea,” Hen gave an exaggerated shrug. “He said if we got all-out drunk before you got here you’d _have_ to be the sensible one.”  
  
“Sure,” Buck nodded, “but there are six of us. I don’t have that much space in my truck.”  
  
Karen blinked slowly. “Oh.”  
  
“So we leave Maddie and Chimney behind,” Hen said after a moment. “They won’t notice. They’ve been doing karaoke for the last half hour anyway.”  
  
As if on cue, the opening notes of ‘Summer Nights’ began to play. Chimney picked up a glass, took a swig to drain it, and set it down again with a definitive _thunk_ in time to sing the opening line.  
  
Buck opened his mouth to reply; he closed it again with a shake of his head. “I… okay.”  
  
“I was gonna get you a beer,” Eddie said, scrunching up his face apologetically, “but Chim said if you were driving us all then you shouldn’t have any just to be safe. And then he drank _my_ beer. So.”  
  
“See, _I_ wouldn’t do that to you,” Buck shrugged. “But that’s what happens when you listen to Chim.”  
  
“I’m sorry.” Eddie sighed tiredly, sitting back to lean his forehead against Buck’s shoulder. “I’m gonna regret this in the morning. I can feel it.”  
  
“I think you’re all gonna regret this in the morning.”  
  
“Mm.” Eddie closed his eyes. “But you still love us, though, right?”  
  
Buck sank backwards into the seat. “Yeah, Eddie, I still love you.”  
  
“Even if we puke in your truck?”  
  
Buck wrinkled his nose. “I’d rather nobody puked in my truck. But yeah. Even then.”  
  
Eddie hummed. “Good.”  
  
“He _has_ to love us.” Karen reached across the table to pat his cheek. “We’re his family. He’s stuck with us.”  
  
“But,” Hen said slowly, peering conspiratorially across the bar, “if we leave now, _we_ won’t be stuck with drunk Chimney.”  
  
Karen’s eyes widened.  
  
“Yeah,” Eddie sat up. “I‘m ready to go.” He got to his feet, patting Buck on the shoulder. “Lead the way, man.”  
  
Buck glanced back at Chim and Maddie, who still didn’t seem to have noticed his arrival, never mind his imminent departure. He stopped at the bar and leaned across the counter to be heard over the increasingly loud chorus of ‘tell me more’s.  
  
“If they come over this way,” he nodded in their direction, “can you tell them I’ll be right back?”  
  
“Not sure they’re getting off that stage any time soon, man, but sure.” The bartender smirked, watching Eddie take three attempts before managing to open the door. “Families, huh? Who’d have ‘em?”  
  
Buck watched Chimney fumble to catch a glass he’d knocked over. He saw Maddie look across the stage at Chim with so much fondness that Buck could almost feel it. He heard Hen and Karen laugh, long and loud and carefree, as they made their way out into the parking lot.  
  
“Me,” Buck smiled. “Have a good night.”  
  
Eddie held the door open for him as he passed through, nudging Buck with his elbow. “Sorry we went a little off the rails.”  
  
“Nah,” Buck grinned. “It’ll be worth it when you’re all still hungover at the start of shift in two days.”  
  
Eddie groaned. “But next time-”  
  
“Next time,” Buck interrupted, “Chimney’s driving everyone home.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Please leave kudos/a comment if you enjoyed it! 
> 
> I'm over on Tumblr [here](http://lionheartedghost.tumblr.com/) if you want to come and say hi!
> 
> Hope you're all staying safe and well.


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